Chapter 240

Chapter 240

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There was no need to specifically use a knife for slaughtering a cow to catch a chicken, and there was no need to specifically burn down the whole house to catch one bedbug. Meaning, moderation in everything was good.

However sometimes, no, perhaps often, there were many times when it's ambiguous what exactly that moderation was. In such times, a ruined outcome teaches us that it should have been like this.

To use a little less strength when doing it next time. Or, that it's not something that can be done with your abilities.

Though Rickart didn't specifically pursue the thing called 'moderation', he tended to try doing everything moderately. Even when fighting with weapons bearing a deep blue edge.

That was possible because mostly the gap with his opponent was wide.

And to Rickart, highly skilled masters who flew and crawled, or beginners who just grabbed a sword for the first time, merely looked similar.

The 8th Family Head of the Anustella family, a person named Orleicht, looked like a person who knew at least 90 out of 100 things. Similar to Bori, or perhaps more.

However, even knowing 99 things, if one doesn't know the last single piece, one cannot become like Rickart himself. 100 things and 99 things exist like 0 and 1, or were like having nothing at all.

Therefore, whether it was a person who knew nothing, or a person who knew 99 things, to Rickart they appeared to be about the same.

Then what was the last single piece? That could not be achieved by innate talent or acquired effort. Because only the purest soul sculpted by destiny could accept a certain divine power.

"Honestly speaking, I don't understand the reason to be so obsessed even going as far as throwing away your life. Let me add one unnecessary word, as long as you are obsessed you cannot reach the Realm of Sun you people speak of. It's not something you can copy by seeing it, and the more you try to copy it, the further away you will only become. So what I mean to say is, you will die without any results."

Rickart, facing Orleicht, said. His sword was already drawn, and Rickart was looking down at his sword as if examining whether there was even a speck of dust on the blade.

Though Orleicht had drawn his sword, he didn't take a separate stance. Standing slightly slanted, he was holding the sword in one hand letting it drop naturally.

"Obsession...... rather than that, as a long time passed it became a long-cherished wish. What if it's curiosity? I mean if that curiosity can be satisfied even in exchange for my life. Too much time has passed, Master from the West. So if that wish became stained with doubt, wouldn't just erasing that stain be worth risking my life? I mean confirming with my own eyes whether the Realm of Sun is a fiction or something that truly exists."

"Right...... If so the result wouldn't be entirely absent. Understood."

Rickart finally agreed. And naturally dropped his head. At the same time, wind blew around him. Accurately speaking, a gentle breeze was blowing originally, but its direction became chaotic.

The sand on the ground rose softly melting. It wasn't thick dust, but literally it felt like sand rose up to ankle height.

Something was happening, the facing Orleicht knew it, and the watching people knew it too. However they couldn't know what that something was.

It felt like when Rickart properly drew up his power, the surrounding natural environment reacted to it. On the other hand, when Orleicht began to raise mana, the line forming the boundary between the world and himself seemed to waver.

"Oh......"

While everyone watched with bated breath, Roy let out a small exclamation. Setting aside Rickart, it was because Orleicht's formidable power was also amazing.

Even Orleicht's blue eyes wavered as if being crumpled. It was a terrifying yet overwhelming sight.

Conversely Rickart's presence seemed to become increasingly faint. No, should it be said that by his presence becoming faint, his presence became certain. Of course it was contradictory but it could only be expressed like that.

Because it felt like he was gradually assimilating with the changes in the surrounding environment he caused. So it wasn't an illusion, the very existence called Rickart looked intensely bright and huge.

When Rickart raised his head again, his eyes themselves were calm but golden flames were blazing in his pupils. It was like looking at the eyes of a judge of the underworld, or an angel.

"My god, isn't it exactly like the legends......"

Someone murmured in surprise.

And finally, the flame that started from the tip of Rickart's blade flared up whoosh along the blade. Reaching this point he truly didn't look like a human. I mean an angel descended holding a fiery sword.

In an instant a smile spread across Orleicht's face. What that smile meant couldn't be known. It did look peaceful. Or maybe it meant 'now it's done', or something.

Without questioning who was first, the two rushed towards each other. No matter how much one opened their eyes wide and looked, they couldn't track all the movements.

Just, Rickart flashed his sword high above his head, and Orleicht's sword thrust towards the opponent's neck. That exactly caught the eye like a paused screen.

At this level of speed, a back-and-forth exchange was almost meaningless. The higher the skill, the longer they fought wasn't the case, unexpectedly there were many cases where it ended simply, and it seemed it would be like that.

However, judging by posture, Rickart was slower than the opponent. So Roy momentarily felt someone tightly gripping his heart. Don't tell me.

Clang-!

When the seemingly paused time flowed again, something like a large bell sound rang out. A bell sound heard when the heavens open, or when the time of judgment arrived.

All that was visible to the eyes was the afterimage of a golden ray of light drawn vertically. And that ray of light accurately passed through Orleicht, and an ordinary human body made of flesh and bones couldn't be safe at that boundary surface.

JJEOJEOK, CHWAAAAAAK!

Starting from the crown of his head, the body split in half collapsed, and from the cut surface a large amount of blood and all kinds of things poured out. The broken sword was buried there.

Rickart put his sword in the scabbard, and merely bowed his head lightly towards the extremely miserable corpse.

The sand on the ground that had risen up to the ankles subsided again. Then dirt dust rose softly leisurely belatedly. The wind that had lost its direction also naturally began to blow again.

It probably wasn't up to a noble sacrifice. That didn't mean he died without any meaning either.

Orleicht's body split in half was somehow collected, and stitched with needles back into one for the funeral, enshrined on the altar. Incense smoke was rising in front of it.

His children, and dozens of relatives and disciples were sitting in a wide space. They were the core figures of the Anustella family.

Even though dozens of people were in one space there wasn't a single coughing sound and it was quiet, someone said.

"It wasn't a legend but a fact."

"If so, is that Master the successor of the Steel Reaper?"

One of the family elders asked turning halfway back towards Malcolm.

"He didn't seem to carry on the dying wishes."

"Then how......"

"That's not what's important. The fact that it's a fact and not a legend is important. Doubt had dwelled in our faith."

"Do people from other families also know?"

"Rumors will spread quickly."

"Rumors and knowing for sure are different though."

"Setting that aside for now, for what matter did the Master say he came to Tel Urano?"

"He is currently looking into the God King's final whereabouts."

"Why?"

"I don't know what level of status he has in the West where the status system exists, but he seemed to be of the God King's bloodline."

Even being the bloodline of a king like a god, that didn't bestow divine qualifications upon him. Especially if coming from the West.

Of course, even so, from the perspective of the people here, it was true he was from an extremely great family background.

"Indeed......"

"Is it true you have a grudge relationship with the Shadow of the King?"

"Yes. The Master stopped the Shadow of the King from trying to kill a water carrier. We suffered an attack once after that, and Atlih, Mark, and Alter died."

"Then I guess they are enemies with us too."

"We must be careful. The Shadow of the King is everywhere. They might be here too."

"For that reason shouldn't we root them out once? Until now we didn't pay attention because they didn't specifically cause harm, but if we weigh whether doctrine or family comes first, they are not people for our family."

It was just the difference between extreme or moderate, following the teachings of the God King was the same for the Shadow of the King or swordsmanship families.

However, as always, the fiercest conflicts were not conflicts with people on the opposite side but conflicts among similar people.

Extremism and moderatism look similar on the outside, but they might be existences that cannot be mixed into one more than thought. Rather if they had completely different thoughts one wouldn't have to care, but that wasn't the case.

"It's not appropriate to discuss that here. Let's focus on the funeral for now."

The person sitting closest to the chemically preserved corpse said. He was the next family head.

Since the position of the family head was determined by the agreement of family members and not hereditary, he was a 6th cousin to Malcolm.

He continued speaking.

"Malcolm, convey to the Master that we are thinking positively. Until then, treat him as an honored guest. Imparting the mausoleum would also be good. But what others should also know is, if there is no Shadow of the King, we might have to bear the problem of dealing with vagrants. Let's discuss it more carefully."

When the next family head summarized in his own way, it became quiet again.

By the way, those attending the funeral didn't seem to be greatly sadder than expected. Exactly like when Malcolm ended his comrade's breath. The life of those who live and die by the sword couldn't help but be calm in the face of death.

Even without speaking, the people gathered in the place all recalled a similar thing in their minds. It was none other than the sword discussion scene between Rickart and the previous family head.

In a way it was a tremendous shock but perhaps because they were originally people who didn't reveal their emotions, they didn't make a fuss. However, their hearts pounding was inevitable.

The fluctuating atmosphere, the burning eyes exactly like looking at an angry angel, and the holy flame sword exterminating evil. The legend was true. That alone made the previous family head's death worthwhile.

However, there was one blind spot for people who only trained the sword. How to use the honed sword. Cultivating and polishing was good, but so what did you plan to did with it?

Of course it helped in protecting oneself, protecting the family, and defeating monsters and enemies, but these people weren't an army, a political faction, or rulers.

Meaning, they were not people who protected certain values. To such people, the existence called Rickart was a stranger yet simultaneously the brightest star at present.

More people than he thought were paying attention to the footprints Rickart unknowingly left behind.

Whether he would just stop by briefly as a stranger and go, leave giant footprints in the era after the God King, or whether he would bring destruction just as the brightest star was the most destructive, was still unknown.

Therefore, the previous family head's death had meaning beyond simply revealing that the legend was a fact.